A January 26, 2012 article by Sita Ananth, MHA in the electronic Hospitals and Health Networks provides a good synopsis of a large survey based report led by Ananth for the Samueli Institute. The reportwas published in August 2011. The article is entitled More Hospitals Offering CAM. Ananth splices in a few comments from David Eisenberg, MD. Mayo’s Brent Bauer, MD and hospital trend expert and futurist Ian Morrison. Ananth finishes with a statement that many hospitals “include ‘whole person health’ in their mission statements, making CAM a natural fit.” She tags on a quote from Nancy Foster, vice president for quality and patient safety at the American Hospital Association: “The rise of complementary and alternative medicine reflects the continued effort on the part of hospitals and caregivers to broaden the vital services they provide to patients and communities … Hospitals have long known that what they do to treat and heal involves more than just medications and procedures. It is about using all of the art and science of medicine to restore the patient as fully as possible.”

Comment: Growing up in Seattle with Boeing as a near neighbor and many Boeing engineers and machinists as literal neighbors provided my original context for understanding the meaning of “defense contractors.” Little did I know that in getting involved in natural healing modalities in 1983 I would once again be surrounded by them in 2012. This issue of the journal is certainly an excellent resource for anyone working in or around the military’s exploration of integrative therapies in the care, treatment and resilience of its troops. (Thanks to Stacy Gomes, EdD at the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine for alerting me to the issue.)

Comment: The journal’s attractive subheading is: A postdisciplinary discourse for global action. Both ends of that phrase are nice. None of the author’s names on the title page have degrees or disciplines attached. I was first introduced to Ken Wilbur’s integral thinking via Dossey and her colleague in holistic nursing standard-setting, Carla Mariano, RN, PhD, BC-HN, FAAN, an Integrator adviser. The most significant take-home in that 2006-2007 inter-professional exploration was how much we abuse “integration” when we approach it only from right quadrants. And we have. How is it that Dr. Spock became the arbiter of optimal health?

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As the editor of IntegrativePractitioner.com, Lindsay combines her background in digital journalism with her experience in planning the content Integrative Healthcare Symposium conferences. She is an avid traveler and loves to explore new cultures and languages. As a researcher and writer, she embraces the opportunity to explore topics and conversations that are both challenging and exciting, which brought her to the world of integrative medicine. Working together with colleagues and peers across the integrative healthcare community, she is eager to help stimulate important conversations and grow the movement.